Scarborough board to take up Route 1 and Ginn Road projects

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Photo: David Harry / The Forecaster

With Planning Board approval as soon as next Monday, this wooded area at Ginn and Payne roads could be developed into a gas station and convenience store. Additional plans for a restaurant on the site will need more Planning Board review.

After Monday, March 11, acreage along Payne Road and on the south side of U.S. Route 1 could be in for some changes as developers seek Planning Board input and approval for three construction projects.

Representatives of Scarborough Properties LLC believe they have met the conditions needed for approval of a 3,500-square-foot convenience store and gas station at the corner of Ginn and Payne roads.

The project has become a phased one, according to Steve Bushey of DeLuca Hoffman Engineers, because developers have not firmed up a commitment for a tenant in the 4,000-square-foot restaurant also proposed on the site.

Before discussing the plans, Planning Board members will also hear about updates and revisions to plans by Ram Management of Portland to build a three-story, 3,200-square-foot office building next to the Centervale Farm complex at 200 U.S. Route 1.

Also reviewed Monday will be plans to build a 3,200-square-foot bank with a drive-through and a 1,800-square-foot coffee shop, possibly a Starbucks, next to Centervale Farm. The bank will be the next home of Biddeford Savings, as the bank relocates from its current location at Willowdale Road and U.S. Route 1.

Plans for development at Payne and Ginn roads have been discussed since last summer when zoning restrictions in the area near and along Haigis Parkway were loosened.

After nearly two hours of discussion and deliberation at the Feb. 19 Planning Board meeting, Bushey and representatives of Portland-based Alpha Architects will return Monday with more details about landscaping to shield gas pumps from view on Payne Road, the status of needed state traffic and storm-water permits for development, and the height of the store and the gas pump canopies.

The gas station, a Shell Oil franchise, would also have diesel pumps in the rear. Planning Board documents indicate Panera Bread has been interested in becoming the restaurant tenant. Assistant Town Planner Jay Chace said the restaurant will require further Planning Board review and approval because of architectural standards.

The main access for the store and restaurant will be on Ginn Road, with an entrance and exit on Payne Road solely for southbound traffic.

Developers shifted Payne Road access south toward Haigis Parkway in order to preserve a needed curb cut in the traffic island, allowing southbound access from a home across the street. The new access route is spaced so the curb cut would not allow vehicles traveling north on Payne Road to avoid using Ginn Road to get to the gas station or restaurant.

At the Feb. 19 meeting, Planning Board members including Chairman Allen Paul questioned the design for an access road running through the center of the development.

“As I look at the traffic movement I see a real nightmare with coming in off Payne Road into the main traffic aisle for both buildings and immediately allowing a left hand turn into the pumps,” Paul said.

Expansion plans at Centervale Farms call for constructing the office building behind and to the side of the existing complex of offices and shops, along with 64 parking spaces.

Biddeford Savings Bank has plans for a 2.6-acre parcel now owned by the Jarvis Group, located next to Centervale Farm. The new branch would replace one at the intersection of Willowdale Drive and U.S. Route 1.

Last reviewed at the Jan. 28 meeting, project revisions were intended to be discussed Feb. 19 but were postponed because of the length of the meeting.

Questions remain on how to site the buildings and how to effectively direct traffic to a shared access with Centervale Farm at the existing intersection of U.S. Route 1 and Hannaford Drive.

The Planning Board is also seeking to make the area more pedestrian-friendly, with a better crosswalk across U.S. Route 1 and more sidewalks along the south side of the road.

Approval of the bank and coffee shop project will be another step in the development of a swath of land now or once owned by the Jarvis Group. A patch of woods and wetlands remains along U.S. Route 1, but will be sandwiched between the bank development and an 81-bed assisted living center on Black Point Road.

Built for Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegman Cos., the assisted living center was approved last fall over objections from neighbors on Black Point Road.